The Wild One
by Starla123
Summary: Imagine you have lived alone in the forest ever since you can remember, never talking to another human besides yourself, and the animals take care of you. Then, one day, your paradise is ruined by a stranger. This stranger calls himself the Onceler. He teaches the girl all alone how to do lots of things, while rising in power with his new invention.
1. Once there was a girl

_Each chapter will have a section at the top where it's talking between Jack and the Onceler. You don't have to read it, and it's not very long. Just a few paragraphs. It just shows how sad the Onceler is that Annabelle isn't with him. As River would say, "Spoilers!" Actually, when I say "All" I mean most. Most chapters will have this little beginning. When they don't, I'll let you know. _

The Onceler

Chaper 1

Jack stood up strait, adjusted his coat, and took the letter out of his pocket. It was from his mother, and her dying wish was to find the man his mother wished Jack had for a father. Jack knocked on the door to the tall, mis-shaped house. A few minutes later, an old man answered the door.

"Who are you?" the old man asked.

Jack gulped and glanced at the name on the door. The Onceler. "Mr. Onceler, sir, I um... I have something my mother wanted me to give you." He held out the letter.

"Who was your mother?" the Onceler asked, taking the letter from Jack's hands.

"Annabelle."

The Onceler's eyes widened. He quickly opened the letter and, sure enough, there was her messy handwriting he had grown so used to. He quickly read the paper, and wiped the tears that had sprung into his eyes. "This is your mother?"

"Yes. She spoke often of you."

"And your father and her argued often, I assume?"

"Yes sir."

The Onceler chuckled. "She was a fiesty girl, thats for sure."

"Dad hit her, too," Jack said quietly. "She always wanted to come find you, but she refused to leave my younger sister and I."

The Onceler closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Come inside. I need to tell you a story."

A young girl, around 17, crouched behind a bush. Her long blond hair fell over her back as she knelt, studying the invader. The invader wasn't like her. He had shorter and darker hair, he was taller, but he had the same color of eyes that she did.

This girl had no name. Her family was killed before she was given one, and she had been raised by nature. The animals took care of her, and she never thought she needed a name. And now, her life pattern was changing.

_Go away_, she begged in her head. _Please go away. _

But he continued chopping down a tree.

Stop it!

She could feel her anger rising as he continued cutting the tree. This feeling was as foreign as the stranger that had appeared earlier. And she didn't like it. Not one bit. She wanted to run and tell him to stop, but would he even understand her? Would he do as she asked, and stop? Would he hurt her?

The friendlyness in the stranger's eyes told her that he wouldn't hurt her intentionally, but she was still scared.

Finally, the tree fell. The girl jumped out of the way as the tree decended upon her bush. The man stared at her, a little frightened at first, but he smiled to himself as he realized the girl was terrified. Her chest heaved up and down while she stared at the tree, and then her gaze turned to him. Then suddenly, she ran away. The man, who was only a year or two older than the girl, turned around and began to set up his tent. He didn't see the flash of lightning that struck the tree trunk stump.

The girl sat in her home, shivering. Not from the cold, because it was a nice and warm day. Perfect, ruined only by the missing tree. She saw a flash of lightning out her window. She stood and looked out. There was no sign of lightning, but it was in the same area as the fallen tree, so she decided to check it out. She left the small cottage she lived in and raced through the trees. She emerged into the clearing just in time to see a small orange lump pop out of the tree stump. It sat up, confused, then when it realized the tree was gone, he leapt up and looked at the stump, bewildered.

"What is this?" he asked the girl.

"Someone came a cut it down," she replied. She was shocked to hear her voice. It was so soft and quiet.

The orange creature nodded sadly, and picked up a large rock nearby. Animals followed in suit and placed rocks around the tree. The girl did the same. They all joined hands and stood in silence until the orange creature looked in a different direction and saw the man from before plucking the tufts from the tree. The girl and the orange creature approached him.

"Did you cut down this tree?"

"Uh, no," the man said. "What's that?" He pointed in the opposite direction and dropped his ax onto a small bear who was examining it curiously. "He did it!"

"I saw you," the girl said. "And we're not stupid."

The orange creature looked at him unimpressed.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees."

The man and the Lorax looked to the girl expectantly. "I don't know what a name is," she said quietly. "Are they important?"

"Kinda, yeah," the man said. "I'm Once. That's what people call me when they want to get my attention."

"Oh, I see. I don't have one of those."

Once stared at her for a few moments, until he perked up. "I'll call you Annabelle," he decided.

The girl nodded. "Annabelle... it sounds pretty."

Once nodded. Annabelle looked at the Lorax, who had scampered to a small stick in the ground with a string attached to it. He kicked it, and part of Once's home came down. Once ran up quickly and nailed the string back down. The two continued this process for a little while longer until Annabelle stopped them.

"This is pointless," she said and grabbed the Lorax by the arm as he passed. She did the same to Once. "Stop fighting. It's getting you nowhere, and the running will tire you out."

Once and the Lorax huffed and looked away from her.

"Now, Lorax, why don't you explain why you're here," Annabelle said.

"I'm here because _you_ cut down a tree. Didn't you see all the thunder, and lightning and stuff?" the Lorax asked, and poked Once when he said 'you'.

"Um, didn't happen," Once said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Annabelle watched the Lorax climb through a window quickly. She waited for him to come back out. She waited for several minutes, and then Once's front door opened and the Lorax walked out, looking defeated.

"I couldn't reach the doorknob and that completely ruined my threat," the Lorax sighed. "So now, I'm going to throw his bed in the river."

"He'll see you if you do it now," Annabelle said.

"That's why I'm doing it in the night while he's sleeping," the Lorax said. "Now come on, let's tell the others."

"The others?"

"Yeah. The animals."

"Oh." Annabelle walked with the Lorax, liking the idea of revenge. It was so foreign to her, just lie everything that had happened to her that day. It was strange at how quickly her life changed, but somehow, she knew it would only change more.


	2. Annabelle takes revenge

Onceler ch. 2

"_How did she die?" the Onceler asked. _

"_She had a cough," Jack explained. "She couldn't get rid of it. She had all these special surgeries to get rid of it, but it always came back twice as bad. It was a sad time for my younger sister and I. And my son."_

"_Do you have a picture of her? Your mother?"_

_Jack nodded. "At her funeral, I took several. I also took some of her the week she died, with my son." He took out his phone and showed the Onceler a picture. An old woman and a young boy were smiling. _

"_Anna," the Onceler breathed. "Still as beautiful as when I knew her."_

"_She wanted to see you, just one last time." _

"_I wanted to see her too. I thought of her, every day." The Onceler sighed sadly and gave Jack his phone back. _

"_Now, about this story."_

Annabelle had just finished washing her hair out before bed when the Lorax found her. He told her the entire plan, and even though she didn't entirely approve of it, she agreed to help. She would make sure that, if he woke up while the animals carried his bed to the river, that she would somehow make him fall asleep again. She didn't know how she would do that. The Lorax explained that because she had a soft voice, just whispering "Go asleep" might do the trick. Annabelle didn't know what this "trick" was, but she went with it.

Annabelle held the door open for the bears as they carried the bed. They knocked the bed into the wall. Once mumbled something in his sleep and turned onto his back. Annabelle stifled a laugh, and it came out as soft giggles. Her wet hair still clung to her face, though not nearly as bad as it had when they began their so-called "mission."

"Who taught you guys how to steal a bed?" the Lorax hissed.

"I thought we were only moving his bed,"Annabelle whispered to the Lorax, who groaned in frustration at the bears' clumsiness.

"We were," the Lorax said. "And him. He didn't leave by sunset, so he gets tossed too."

"Oh. Is that the treat you made to him when you were in his house?"

"Yes."

Annabelle thought this was ridiculous, tossing him in the river. He would most likely be scared when he woke up. But, then again, a little fear never hurt anyone. Any sensible person would follow the river back and they would eventually find their way back to where they came from.

Annabelle followed the animals. He woke up, briefly, and she did as the Lorax had told her. She whispered, "This is just a dream. Go to sleep," in his ear and he went right back to sleep, like her small orange friend had said. She just wished she didn't have to make him go back to sleep, just in case he remembered when he woke up and was angry at her. She watched the bears hand off the bed and Once to the fish, who eased the bed into the river and let it go. Her shoulders sagged in relief, until she saw one of the baby bears popped up over the bed rail, waving.

"Can he swim?" she asked.

The bears shook their head.

"Of course he can't swim!" the Lorax cried.

Annabelle and the animals took off running after the bed. The Lorax climbed the tree with some of the other bears, Annabelle shoved the larger bear, who had been eating some fruit, up the tree. The Lorax reached for the small bear.

"Come on, reach for the Lorax!"

The small bear giggled, but missed the Lorax's hands and grabbed a piece of fruit instead. On purpose, too! Annabelle helped the bears down, and they followed the Lorax. The bed his a rock in the split of the river, and changed its course to the rough side of the river. Annabelle remembered the waterfall at the other end

"Stop that bed!" she yelled. The fish tried, but ended up pulling the blanket off of Once. She looked around for a way to stop the bed, when she saw a boulder at the edge of the cliff that hung over them. She pointed it out to the Lorax, and together, they ran up the hill. By now, Annabelle noticed that Once had woken up and the small bear and he were holding onto each other.

"Hold on!" Annabelle yelled to them as she and the Lorax pushed on the rock. "Help is coming!"

Finally, the rock moved, rolled down the hill, rolled through the air at a jump, and hit the edge of Once's bed. The bed then acted as a lever, and Once and the small bear were sent flying. Annabelle, not caring about getting her hands hurt as she slid down the rocky surface to get to Once after he hit the ground with the small bear in his arms. The small bear climbed off of him, and the other bears gathered in a circle around him.

_I sure hope he's okay_, Annabelle thought, not knowing why. She was always concerned for others' saftey, but maybe she was ore concerned because he saved her small bear friend. She stood next to the Lorax and watched as he took a deep breath and put his mouth against Once's. Then, after pulling away from him, he rubbed two bears together and put them on Once's chest. After doing the bear think two more times, Once gasped and sat up.

"I saw a light, but you brought me back!" Once said, hugging the Lorax. "You and Annabelle saved me from the-the... why was my bed in the river?"

"Sorry Once," Annabelle said quietly. "The Lorax planned it. I-I'll help you find your bed, though-"

"Just, stop. I'll see you guys in the morning." Once got up and began to walk away. "Coming, Annabelle?"

"Y-yeah," Annabelle stuttered. "I'll see you guys in the morning, okay?" She got up and ran after Once. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you would get hurt, honest. We were planning to drift you down the calm river."

Once huffed and didn't say anything. He climbed down the rocky cliff carefully. Annabelle climbed down after him. It wasn't a very tall cliff, so they didn't take long climbing down. Once and Annabelle scanned the water, and couldn't find a trace of the taller man's striped mattress or metal framing. Once sighed in irritation and sat on a nearby rock.

"I can't find it anywhere," he grumbled.

"I think there's one more place... it's close, but please don't show anyone else. It's my place. Where I go when I think," said the blond-haired girl thoughtfully. "Come on! It's unlikely, but it's still connected to the river." She motioned for Once to follow her, and began skipping to her secluded spot. Annabelle followed the stream that branched off the river, and Once followed her.

"So..." Once began. "Why don't you have a name?"

"I _do_ have one."

"Well, before now."

Annabelle stopped skipping and walked slowly. She kept her head down, and her eyes looked at the small blue fish that swam around in the stream. "I don't know," she whispered. "You get your name from the people who created you, right?"

"Most of the time."

"I never knew them. What's the right word for it?"

"Your parents. There's your mother, who's the girl, and your father, who is the boy."

"Like you and me?" Annabelle asked.

"Y-yeah, I guess so," Once stuttered, suddenly feeling his face heat up. Though he wasn't quite sure why.

"That's strange."

"What we just talked about?"

"No." Annabelle pointed to the metal frame of the bed and the mattress which stuck out of the water at an upright angle. "That. That's your bed, right?"

"Yeah."

Annabelle grinned. "Let's go, then! It's a long journey to the top dragging these with us!"


	3. What's the word?

This chapter does not have a thing from the future, with Jack and the Onceler.

This chapter is a little shorter than normal. Sorry about that!

Annabelle woke up hearing a scream, the next morning. She had returned to her cottage, exhausted and lonely. Her conversations with Once had left her with questions; Questions which bother her, feeling like an annoying fly that won't go away. Why did her parents leave? And who were her parents, exactly?

Soon, as she was eating her breakfast outside, she spotted Once approaching her. "Anna! Want to come with me to town to sell my Thneed?" He took the pink scarf off of his neck. Annabelle thought it looked more like a blanket with lots of holes in it.

"You want to sell that?" she scoffed. "Why?"

"You don't like it?"

"Well..." Annabelle put down the piece of fruit she was eating. "Not really, no."

Once sighed in annoyance. "Do you want to come with me to town or not?"

Annabelle shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I haven't ever been to town before," she admitted. "I just watched from a distance, and it was so loud there. I didn't really like it." She tapped her index fingers together and stared at a bush nearby. _Why am I acting stupid about this?_ She wondered. "What would I do, anyway?"

Once took one of her hands and pulled her up from her sitting position on the ground. "I'll tell you if you come." He let go of her hand and turned around and began walking down the path he came. "You don't need to be scared of them. Maybe it was just that one area that was loud."

Maybe he's right, Annabelle thought. "Okay, I'll come." She ran down the path to follow Once. "But really, why do you want me to come?"

"If I end up making a fool of myself," Once said, "I'll need someone good looking to distract the people."

What does that mean? Annabelle wondered. Why wouldn't he be successful with his... Thneed? I may not like it, but that doesn't mean nobody else won't. "Won't you able to hide behind Marvin?"

"Yes, I guess," Once said. "I didn't think of that."

"And your guitar will be something to block as well."

Once began to feel ashamed for not thinking of these ideas. He thought that Anabelle was uch smarter than him, despite the fact that she had been living in exile, away from all people, for her entire life. She didn't even have a name when he met her. That was strange enough. Could she not read or anything, too?

"Hey, Annabelle," Once began.

"What is it?"

Once smiled a little at the sound of her voice, for some reason. He felt a little strange around her. "Um... What exactly happened to your parents?"

Annabelle cast her eyes down at the ground. "I'm not really sure," she said, just loud enough for Once to hear. "The bears raised me, and I can't really understand them. I assume they don't know."

Huh. Not much information there, then.

"I like to think that they were killed protecting me from something," Annabelle continued. "That would prove that they felt... what is that word? Where they would do anything for you, or like you?"

"Love," Once said.

"Yeah! That's it!" Annabelle smiled brightly at him. "Thanks. If that were true, what I said, then they must have really loved me if they were willing to risk their lives for me."

"I guess so." Our conversations leave me feeling different. This one... "Since your parents died when you were young, does it mean that you don't know how to read?"

"What's that?" Annabelle asked, looking at him curiously. "Reading."

"Um... I'll tell you about that later."

"Okay, then," Annabelle said.


End file.
